SK Hynix's $28 Billion ADR Oversubscribed, Pricing Set for Thursday
N.R. Finch
SK Hynix's $28 billion ADR offering has drawn orders several times over, with pricing set for Thursday — making it the world's second-largest equity sale after SpaceX and a live test of the AI chip leader's pull in a shaky market.
How strong is demand for this $28 billion book?
The order book closes at 4 p.m. ET Wednesday; subscriptions have already covered the offering multiple times over.
U.S. institutional orders typically start at $200 million, with larger tickets exceeding $1 billion.
This means → big money is voting with real capital: even as Middle East tensions drag down global tech stocks, appetite for this deal has not faded.
Who are the cornerstone investors, and how much are they taking?
Baillie Gifford Overseas Limited, a Coatue Management fund, and Situational Awareness Partners have indicated interest in subscribing for up to a combined $7 billion in ADRs.
In plain terms = the deal is worth $28 billion total, and these three names alone could take a quarter of it — effectively underwriting the offering's credibility.
Pricing guidance will be released after Seoul's Thursday close; allocation will be finalized the same day in the U.S.
What does the deal structure look like?
SK Hynix is issuing 17.79 million new shares; every 10 ADRs represent 1 ordinary share.
The reference price is ₩242,500 per ADR, based on the July 3 Seoul closing price.
The company plans to list on Nasdaq on July 10. On the day the deal was announced, SK Hynix shares fell as much as 3.59% intraday — this reflects the market's immediate reaction to near-term share dilution.
Where does this rank on the global league table?
The offering is set to become the world's second-largest equity sale, behind only SpaceX's $85.7 billion IPO last month.
It surpasses Saudi Aramco's $25.6 billion IPO in 2019 and Alibaba's comparable 2014 listing.
This means → a chip company's secondary fundraise now matches or exceeds the record offerings of oil majors and internet giants — AI's capital gravity is rewriting the global league table.
What does the market watch next?
SK Hynix is the core supplier of high-bandwidth memory — HBM, an ultra-fast memory chip purpose-built for AI training — to Nvidia, Google, and other AI system customers.
Despite Middle East tensions triggering a broad pullback in global tech stocks, investor appetite has not meaningfully weakened.
In plain terms = the money is in; the next question is whether SK Hynix converts this capital into real HBM capacity and R&D — that is the milestone the market will use to validate the valuation.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.